Square One Law supports Activ8 in raising investment to make virtual parking a reality

Commercial law firm Square One Law has acted for Sunderland-based Activ8 in the development of its “connected city” project.

Activ8’s Virtual Parking Solutions (VPS) platform allows for the intelligent management of restricted kerbspace in urban environments and creates ‘opportunity windows’ in the restrictions for certain classes of vehicle.

Building on the concept of the connected city, the VPS system allows local authorities to manage deliveries between set times, with details of each delivery sent directly to Civil Enforcement Officers’ handheld devices or CCTV operatives to ensure no penalty notices are issued.

The VPS system’s benefits include minimising local traffic disruption in already congested areas, reducing the environmental impact of stationary traffic, enabling parking enforcement teams to do their jobs more efficiently and ensuring city centre retailers get the goods they need on time with minimum fuss.

After successfully proving the VPS concept with a major London Borough, Activ8 is now lining up a number of operational pilot schemes in different local authority areas, with others to follow in the coming months, including solutions to assist the disabled motorist with major global fuel retailers.

Square One Law worked with Activ8’s Founder and CEO Neil Herron and RMT Accountants and Business Advisors to deliver the investment, which has been secured from a number of private individuals.

Neil Herron says: “The Virtual Parking Bay is a simple solution to an age old problem that occurs in every city around the world. The issuing of a penalty notice is simply a failure of the traffic management regime, and with local authorities now treating traffic management as a priority, rather than simply the enforcement of traffic regulations, there’s a huge amount of potential to tap into, especially as our platform can be delivered at zero cost to local authorities.

“Our team of advisers understood the wider concept of the business and were very receptive towards what we’re looking to achieve – it’s been very refreshing to work with advisers who truly operate as part of our team.”

John Hammill, corporate senior associate at Square One Law, says: “The concept of smart city technology has great potential, and it was a pleasure to work alongside Neil and RMT on this deal.

“We were delighted to assist in putting the necessary legal agreements in place to create a group of companies offering differing but complementary technologies and to secure substantial investments into the group. We look forward to seeing the growth and development of the Activ8 group and wish them every success in the future.”

Stephen Slater, director at RMT Accountants and Business Advisors, adds: “Having worked with Neil for two years on the connected city vision and the last six months to bring all the elements of the investment process together, it’s very satisfying to see it reach its completion, especially in light of the excellent use made by the investors of the allowances offered by the Enterprise Investment Scheme.

“This is a very dynamic business operating in a fast-moving sector, and Activ8’s management team now have the resources they need to fully realise the commercial potential that it offers.”